WVC 24 - 2 - 11 A
§24-2-11a. Requirement for certificate of public convenience and
necessity before beginning construction of high
voltage transmission line; contents of application;
notice; hearing; criteria for granting or denying
certificate; regulations.
(a) No public utility, person or corporation may begin
construction of a high voltage transmission line of two hundred
thousand volts or over, which line is not an ordinary extension of
an existing system in the usual course of business as defined by
the Public Service Commission, unless and until it or he or she has
obtained from the Public Service Commission a certificate of public
convenience and necessity approving the construction and proposed
location of the transmission line.

(b) The application for the certificate shall be in the form
the commission prescribes and shall contain:

(1) A description, in such detail as the commission
prescribes, of the location and type of line facilities which the
applicant proposes to construct;

(2) A statement justifying the need for the facilities;

(3) A statement of the environmental impact of the line
facilities; and

(4) Other information the applicant considers relevant or the
commission requires.

(c) Upon the filing of the application, the applicant shall
publish, in the form the commission directs, as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three,
chapter fifty-nine of this code, the publication area for the
publication to be each county in which any portion of the proposed
transmission line is to be constructed, a notice of the filing of
the application and that the commission may approve the application
unless within fifteen days after completion of publication a
written request for a hearing on the application has been received
by the commission from a person or persons alleging that the
proposed transmission line or its location is against the public
interest. If the request is timely received, the commission shall
set the matter for hearing on a date within sixty days from
completion of the publication, and shall require the applicant to
publish notice of the time and place of hearing in the same manner
as is required for the publication of notice of the filing of the
application. At least thirty business days before the deadline set
by the Public Service Commission to file a petition to intervene
with regard to the application, the applicant shall serve notice by
certified mail to all owners of surface real estate that lie within
the preferred corridor of the proposed transmission line. Notice
received by a named owner who is the recipient of record of the
most recent tax bill that has been issued by the county sheriff's
office for a parcel of land at the time of the filing of the
application is sufficient notice regarding that parcel for purposes
of this subsection.

(d) Within sixty days after the filing of the application, or if hearing is held on the application, within ninety days after
final submission on oral argument or brief, the commission may
approve the application if it finds that the proposed transmission
line:

(1) Will economically, adequately and reliably contribute to
meeting the present and anticipated requirements for electric power
of the customers served by the applicant or is necessary and
desirable for present and anticipated reliability of service for
electric power for its service area or region;

(2) Will be in the best interest of West Virginia customers
and its citizens; and

(3) Will result in an acceptable balance between reasonable
power needs and reasonable environmental factors.

(e) The commission may impose conditions upon its approval of
the application, or modify the applicant's proposal, to achieve an
acceptable balance between reasonable power needs and reasonable
environmental factors.

(f) The provisions of this section do not apply to the
construction of line facilities which will be part of a
transmission line for which any right-of-way has been acquired
prior to January 1, 1973.

(g) The commission shall prescribe rules it considers proper
for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this
section, which rules shall be promulgated in accordance with the
applicable provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.

(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of the law to the
contrary, the commission shall determine, in its discretion, which
transmission line or lines crossing above the Ohio River must be
marked to be made visible to airborne traffic flying in any area
where the lines exist, and shall promulgate rules requiring that
all public utilities or persons who install or maintain the lines
make the necessary markings.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2016 Regular Session
The West Virginia Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.